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Saturday, May 16, 2015
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Judge rules against wind farm developers Walnut Ridge project faces environmental hurdles By Pam Eggemeier Shaw Media Service
CHICAGO — A federal judge has ruled in favor of a group of landowners who had sued the developers of a proposed wind
farm in Bureau County, regarding environmental studies. However, those landowners did lose on their request for a temporary restraining order to cease operations. The up to 123-turbine Walnut Ridge Wind Farm had been planned in northern Bureau County as a joint venture between Minnesota-based Geronimo Wind Energy LLC and a California Indian tribe. The project, incorporated as MG2 Tribal Energy LLC, found a customer for most of its wind energy in October, when it was awarded a 10-year contract from the fed-
eral government. The deal with the U.S. General Services Administration was the largest wind energy purchase from a single source in federal contracting history. The project, however, has again changed hands since the filing of the lawsuit in January. In April, Geronimo sold it to BHE Renewables, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Energy of Des Moines, Iowa. Attorneys for the plaintiffs say the judge’s ruling applies to any company that owns the Walnut Ridge LLC. “MG2 still exists, and Walnut Ridge LLC
is one of the defendants,” said Rick Porter of Hinshaw & Culbertson, a national law firm with headquarters in Chicago. “This is enforceable against all of the parties sued.” Lee County landowner Larry Gerdes, who is a leader of the Informed Farmers Coalition, said lawsuits of this type must be drawn up to account for constant ownership changes within the wind power industry. “The federal tax credits are so rich that
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Road use agreements? Sondgeroth: ‘Printed material has a higher priority than gossip and hearsay’ By Goldie Currie gcurrie@bcrnews.com
PRINCETON — Bureau County Board member Steve Sondgeroth spoke on Tuesday, May 12, about the road use agreements the county currently has set in place within its zoning ordinance. His talk was a follow-up to comments Walnut resident Ed Gerdes made at last month’s county board meeting about the lack of road use agreements in the county. Sondgeroth said Gerdes had mentioned there were no roads agreements. “As you remember, a couple years ago we changed our zoning ordinance and put more teeth in our ordinance. We’ve now got road agreements in the zoning ordinance,” Sondgeroth said on Tuesday. “If any one has any questions, get a hold of Mrs. (Kris) Donarski and get a copy of the zoning ordinance that pertains to road agreements.” Sondgeroth further explained the zoning ordinance has three components on road use agreements. The first refers to the construction phase of a wind farm. It states prior to granting a conditional use permit, the wind power facility shall obtain the construction phase road use agreement, Sondgeroth said. The second component in the ordinance refers to the operational phase of the wind farm. Prior to issuing a certificate of occupancy, the operator shall enter into an operational phase road use agreement with the county or other affected road districts, like a township, according to Sondgeroth. The third component is for the decommissioning phase of a wind farm. Prior to issuing a certificate of occupancy, the operator must enter into a decommissioning phase road use agreement, said Sondgeroth. Sondgeroth mentioned with Berkshire Hathaway Energy’s recent purchase of Geronimo Energy in Walnut, the county does have a good road use agreement in place for the new wind farm. “We haven’t had to use this new zoning ordinance yet since we put it into place,”
County Board Page 3 Year 169 No. 59 Two Sections - 36 Pages
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BCR photo/Becky Kramer
A blast from the past at the Wyanet library Leslie Goddard, a Road Scholar with the Illinois Humanities Council, portrayed silent screen star Mary Pickford during a program Thursday, May 14, at the Raymond A. Sapp Memorial Library in Wyanet.
The nuts and bolts of peanut allergies Keeping children safe at school By Shannon Serpette sserpette@bcrnews.com
Editor’s note: This is the third story in a three-part series about peanut allergies, how children, parents and schools cope with this severe food allergy and the emotional toll it can take. May 10-16 is Food Allergy Awareness Week. When children are at school, parents are powerless to protect them. For par-
ents of children with peanut allergies, school attendance, in particular, causes constant worry. Will the multitude of peanut butter sandwiches likely being eaten by other children cause an anaphylactic reaction for their child? If it does, will the staff know how to properly handle it? Mary Blackert of Walnut remembers the fear she felt on the first day of school for her 5-year-old daughter, Zoie. “We were really, really nervous,” Mary said. But Mary felt better once she saw how serious the staff at Zoie’s school, Bureau Valley North, was about her safety. Zoie
was given a designated peanut-free spot to sit for lunch. “They really do watch,” Mary said. “When it comes to snacks, the teacher that my daughter has, has been wonderful.” Since having snacks at school during room parties can quickly escalate into a dangerous situation, Mary tries to volunteer for everything to lend extra support. “Better safe than sorry,” she said. The best protection a parent can provide for their child while they are at
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